The late ’90s Battle of the Suburban Dysfunctional Family Dramas was an interesting time for film lovers, with many movies in the genre to choose from. Even though the prestigious 1999 Best Picture Oscar winner “American Beauty” seemed to have the upper hand during that period, the pedigree of Ang Lee’s gorgeous and brutal masterpiece “The Ice Storm” seems to have gathered more praise over time. And yes, this writer’s always been on Team “Ice Storm.”
Meanwhile, writer Alan Ball and director Sam Mendes’ “Billy Wilder tribute band wrapped inside an almost perfectly executed movie” isn’t really mentioned much anymore. In fact, there’s even a recent backlash by critics who think it’s dated and overrated. A lot of the current negativity for the film comes from critics who loved it upon its initial release, while they were still impressionable youths, but find it to be overtly manipulative and annoyingly whimsical as adults.
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Yet none of this feedback clouds the fact that Ball’s screenplay is almost pitch-perfect, with excellent character work and a sly unique tone, which makes it still deserving to be studied in screenwriting classes. Perhaps that’s why the popular YouTube channel for budding screenwriters, Lessons from the Screenplay, decided to put together a quick eight-minute breakdown of what makes the characters in “American Beauty” so well-written. Edited and narrated by Michael Tucker, the video cleverly uses simple graphics and charts to lay out how each character adds to the themes of the story, which centers around the basic human need to find value and meaning in one’s life.
The most effective section of the video centers on how to write engaging dialogue that’s not too on-the-nose. In this part, Tucker presents a made-up version of a scene that’s full of dialogue that seems to directly communicate the characters’ inner monologues. Next, he breaks down the actual dialogue from the film, showing us how even a single sentence can dole out multiple pieces of information about a character. I know that the advice contained in the video sounds like a big “Duh!” moment, but as someone who makes his living as a script coach, I can’t tell you how many times I see writers fall into these obvious traps. Maybe next time I write coverage, I’ll copy and paste a link to this video.
Meanwhile, in part two, Tucker takes a look at the 27 pages that Ball cut from his original script, and what they contained. Fascinating stuff all around, so check it out below.
